Something is brewing in northern Colorado Springs

Northern Colorado Springs is known for the religious fervor at its mega-churches, the nationwide reach of Focus on the Family, the military staidness of the Air Force Academy and the rapidly expanding rooftops of suburban sprawl.

Scott Koons says something is missing: cold beer, brewed on the spot. He and some other entrepreneurs hope to change that, with the area’s first brewpub.

A ground-breaking will be held today for Colorado Mountain Brewery, a $3.2 million micro-brewery and restaurant that would be the first brewpub in this part of town and the first locally-owned one on the north side. It is expected to open in May.

The microbrew was once the exclusive toast of downtown, but the brewpub business has been migrating north and east in recent years. National chain Rock Bottom Brewery opened a brewpub off North Powers Boulevard in 2005, and locally-owned Trinity Brewing Co. set up shop on Garden of the Gods Road last year.

Colorado Mountain Brewery will be at InterQuest Marketplace, a mixed-use development that includes Hollywood Theaters, which opened a 14-screen complex in May, and is expected to include a hotel, stores and a bowling alley.

The idea for Colorado Mountain Brewery came from a group of investors, several of them Air Force Academy graduates, looking to open a business in town, said Koons, the general partner, who graduated from the Academy in 1993. One of the investors had the idea for a brewpub – the group of investors includes a couple home-brewers – and the demographics of the north side seemed to fit.

“There’s definitely, I know, a need for restaurants up north. Colorado’s the No. 1 brewing state out there, so it seems like a good match to put micro-brewing with the restaurant,” said Koons, who left the Air Force after five years and has worked in marketing, finance and real estate.

He said research indicates the average household income in the area is more than $100,000 a year and the average age of residents is 30. Plus, the InterQuest Marketplace development will bring customers, employees and hotel and conference visitors to the brewpub, and traffic during Academy football games will provide a boost.

“We’ll be in a very very visible location with easy access, ample parking and a lot going on right around us,” he said.

The brewpub will have a “Colorado mountain type feel,” he said, with timber and rock architecture, patio space with fire pits and views of the Academy and the hills beyond.

As for the beer, Koons said the owners are leaving that up to the brewmaster, whose identity will be revealed in October. He said the name will be familiar to Colorado Springs beer connoisseurs.

He said there will be 10 beers on tap, including six regular concoctions, brewpub standards including a blonde, stout, porter and India pale ale. There also will be a couple of seasonals and perhaps some other local brewery beers, he said. There are no plans to bottle the beer.

Food will be standard pub fare. The brewpub is expected to employ about 50 people.

He acknowledged the concept is new for this part of town.

“Any kind of restaurant, brewpub venture is a risk. We feel our location is one of the ways we can really alleviate some of that risk,” he said.

ABOUT INTERQUEST MARKETPLACE

InterQuest Marketplace is a 135-acre, 1.2 million-square-foot regional shopping center being developed east of Interstate 25 and InterQuest Parkway by Springs-based Nor’wood Development Group.

Hollywood Theaters’ 14-screen movie theater complex opened last year at the site, while a 10-story, 300-room Renaissance Hotel, Spa and Conference Center is under construction and set to open in May or June.

Sharon Siedler, sales and marketing director and interim general manager, said the hotel is glad to see the brewpub coming; nearby restaurants, shopping and other amenities will help attract individual and convention guests, she said.

“The more that’s there, it draws more people,” Siedler said.

Other work underway at the site includes a new traffic signal along InterQuest Parkway, additional traffic lanes along Voyager Parkway and new landscaping and wetland and interpretive displays off InterQuest Parkway, where restaurants will be clustered, said Fred Veitch, a Nor’wood vice president. All of that work is scheduled for completion in October. A Brunswick Zone XL bowling alley and entertainment center, however, is on hold due to the economy, he said.

RICH LADEN, THE GAZETTE

OTHER LOCAL MICROBREWS

Colorado Springs may not be the brewing capital of Colorado, but there are plenty of places to have a taste of what local brewers are up to. Here are some of the larger ones:

• Phantom Canyon Brewing Co., 2 E. Pikes Peak Ave.. Sample an ever-changing variety of brews and shoot some pool in a historic downtown building.

• Bristol Brewing Co., 1647 S. Tejon St. Most people know Bristol from its bottled beers, but you can try their more obscure brews at the brewery.

• Trinity Brewing Co., 1466 Garden of the Gods Rd. The newest brewpub in town, Trinity may have up to 11 of their own brews and more than two dozen other beers on tap at any time. And they just started a running club.

• Il Vicino, 11 S. Tejon St. It’s a chain, known more for gourmet pizza than beer, but they have several beers on tap, and an IPA you can pick up in some local liquor stores.

• Judge Baldwin’s, 4 S. Cascade Ave. Colorado Springs’ oldest brewpub – it opened in 1990 on the first floor of the Antlers Hilton – is named for an Irish sheep rancher who fought Colorado Springs’ liquor ban in the late 1800s. It features four regular beers and a couple revolving seasonals.

• Rock Bottom Brewery, 3316 Cinema Point Dr. The Denver-based chain opened a location off of North Powers Boulevard in 2005, with six beers on tap.

• Rocky Mountain Brewing Co., 625 Paonia St. Another newcomer, this small brewery operates a tap room next to a home brew supply shop. It has seven to nine beers on tap at any given time.